Spouse Visa Circle - join here!
 

THought it would be a good idea to have a thread for all those of us who are either in the process of or thinking about or already got a spouse visa, be you a Pom or an Ozzy!! As there seems to have been a few of us on threads recently and we all seem to be heading for Brisbane!!

I'll start off - I'm Rachel, British, my husband is dual citizenship UK/Australia as he emigrated with his family when he was 4. He has been living back here in the UK (Harrogate in Yorkshire) for the last 12 years with me! We have been married for 10 years and have three kids, twin boys aged 2 and a 10 week old baby girl.

We've talked about going back to Aus for years and never ever been able to make a decision. Various things have kept us here such as his elderly grandparents who we basically looked after until their deaths in 1999 and 2003; and a small investment in a company that we both worked for. He has now left the company and I am on maternity leave.

We have now made the decision that its time to go for it, the ties we have here are my family who I love dearly but I know they will come out and stay for months at a time! My husbands family are mainly in Brisbane - his Mum lives in ST Lucia and one of his sisters in Windsor. His other sister lives in Perth and his Dad divides his time between Tasmania, Cyprus and the UK (Nice!). So its Brissie where we will be heading.

I have just sent off for citizenship for all my kids and once thats through will be heading to London to get their Aussie passports. Then in about JUne time (got a holiday in Majorca in May) I plan to kick off with the actual application (keep putting it off....quite daunting!) and we hope to be in Australia at the latest January 08, may have another Xmas here first. We will see.

Thats me, loads more I could say about me and my family adn my situation but will wait for some more of you to come along first!!

Rachel

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Hello!

I'll join in :) I'm Kristy and I'm the Aussie!! My husband is Welsh. We met on the internet in 1998 :o and met real time in 2001 when he came to visit me in Brisbane. He stayed for 8 months then returned to the UK. I followed him over 5 months later and have lived in the UK ever since.

We were married in 2004. We've made the decision now to return to Aus as I want to go home!! We've not told my husbands family yet but need them to write statements about our relationship, so that will be interesting!

We are still gathering everything information and what not in order to apply for the visa, still have quite a bit to go but I hope to have it all sent off in March (we as soon as the pcc checks come back!)

I'll be moving to the northern suburbs of Brisbane and just can't wait to get back! Especially can't wait to shop in the extended Chermside shopping centre - I miss shopping centres!

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Hi Rachel......

As you know im already a spouse visa holder!!
It was granted on 5th December 06 only two weeks after applying.

When we first looked into the prospect of emigrating we were like the majority on here and would have needed a skilled visa and probably a STNI. We spoke to quite a few agents, they all had the same information including that my OH mom was Australian born, one of them even suggested we emigrate on a temporary student visa, with 2 kids in tow, i dont think so!!!!
It was'nt until we spoke to another agent, Ian harrop, that we discovered that the OH may be entitled to 'Citizenship by Descent'. That was duly granted in August 2006 but we did'nt find out until 21st September 2006.

After OH had been to London to get his first Aussie passport, I was then able to apply for the spouse visa for myself and our two children.

In the last 6 months my OH has gained Citizenship, me and the kids have a visa and we've also been to Australia for 3 weeks!!!! Bit of a rollercoaster me thinks!!!!

We've now got the house up for sale and are just waiting for the right buyer to come along!!!!!:D C x

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Hi Rachel & Kristy, I'm Mel and got my spouse visa in 2004. My OH was born in Perth but has lived his whole life in UK. We have 4 kids who have all sorted their citizenship by descent, 1 more trip to London for the youngests passport ( the photos are a bugger, will my 17 month sit still?!>) We did our validation trip to Perth in June 2005, heavily pregnant, but loved it...sorted where to live, schools etc paid enrolement fees and planned to move January 2006. Unfortuantely, when my son was born in August 2005, he had a lot of health problems so we stayed in the UK. We have since decided we can't wait any longer and "need" to go!! Our son is now old enough that we don't freek out (too much!) when he is ill, so we're off. Only thing is, hubbie has been offered a job on the Sunshine Coast, so we are heading to a totally unexplored area and all our previous research has been in vain! We are thinking of Sippy Downs area, we have our tickets booked for August 18th..just have to sell the house:eek: So although I have a spouse visa, he's really a pommie...:confused:

Mel
:thumbup:

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so looks like we are all going to Queensland so far!

Kristy - tell us more about how you met your husband on the internet, it sounds fascinating! Was it weird when you finally met him??!

Shiels - when are you planning on going - is it just a case of once your house is sold you will book those flights?

And Mel - you will love the Sunshine Coast, its beautiful, having lunch at the Mooloolaba Surf Club is one of my fave memories! Do you mind me asking what your son's health issue is? Sorry if I'm being too nosy, just tell me to pull my head in (as my husband would say!) Also thought I would ask you - how long did you have to wait at Aus house for the passports - is it a nightmare!!???

And whats everyone going to do for jobs??!!!

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I'm Emma and I'm the Pom, my OH is the Aussie. He grew up in Brisbane and came over to England 7 years ago when he was 23 (he was meant to just be coming for a year but after a couple of years met me and the rest, as they say, is history!). His grandfather was born in England so he's got indefiniate leave to remain.

We live in London and are getting a bit over the whole London thing, so we thought about moving to Devon (I grew up in Dorset and my parents now live in Cornwall). But then in October we had to go back to Oz to OH's sisters wedding and while we were there (and loving it) we decided to move to Oz rather than Devon! My parents were very understanding although a bit disappointed that instead of moving close to them we're going to be on the other side of the world. But they're totally supportive as they can see the appeal.

We're getting married in Cornwall next June so we're hoping to move to Brisbane straight after that. So it's a bit frustrating at the moment because it's a bit too early to really do anything about it, eg apply for the visa. But that hasn't stopped me reading this site every day and getting very excited (I've become a bit addicted already). We've started collecting our 'evidence' though eg joint bank statements, flight stubs etc for when we do apply.

We've been trying to decide whether we should keep our flat in London when we move or just sell up. We're thinking of selling as we don't really want the worry of the place, and looks like we'd be able to buy a nice house with the money we'd make from the flat. We like the look of the Bulimba type area of Brissie as we want to be cycling distance to work (hopefully not in the snow - see my pic in the snowing in London thread on this forum!). But as I said, it's a long way off yet so getting a bit ahead of ourselves there!

OH should be able to get a job quite easily - he's an engineering drafter. I work for a central Govt department so am hoping I might be able to get a job for QLD Govt when we get there - guess we'll have to wait and see.

We can stay with OH's parents when we arrive until we find somewhere to rent. The plan is to then buy somewhere after 6 months or so.

Anyway, very aware that I've been burbling on for ages now - sorry about that! I'll shut up now. :o

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Hi, sorry I wasn't trying to be mysterious, just didn't want to keep drivelling on, he has suspected epilepsy and we have had some very scary moments, with a blue baby, having seizures:eek: We are better able to cope now, he seems to have a major seizure once every 3/4 months. I've been told they can't confirn epilepsy until he is older...I'm making sure we move near a hospital:blink: Australia house have been amazing whenever we have been in, my OH put in the passport applications, he just walked in and got seen straight away, there was no appointment system...don't know if its still the same. They are dead fussy on size of photos tho, more so than UK and it is quite hard getting the kids faces large enough:rofl: ...and finally we are both chefs...I'm a stay at home mum tho these days..and luuuurve it!

Mel
:huh:

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We have been looking at flight prices for May but without a definate date its a bit difficult really. So looks like we will just book them when we get a sale!!! Fingers crossed.......but we do have until to October to validate so thats not too bad.

As regards Australia House my OH went there just before christmas for his passport and it did take up the whole day including the travelling. It was a 'take a ticket and wait' system. They are real fussy about the photos, OH had to have some more done while he was there!!! He had the passport within 10 days and that wasn't the express service.
Claire x

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Hi Emma........
Will you be allowed to work for Goverment Dept as im sure ive read on here that you have to be a citizen, or maybe thats just for certain departments:confused: You could always spend your days on the beach, which i keep trying to convince my OH is a good idea for me....but hes having none of it!!!!!!! :rofl: Claire x

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Rachel - I met him in an online chat room, (not some matchmaker site tho!! lol) just an every day chat room kind of like we're in now (but obviously not about immigration! lol) It was very weird meeting but we'd seen pics and spoke for a good 2 years on the internet and telephone and we were just friends and when we met we got along even better so decided to become more than friends. Thats about it really!

Shiels - Hi again! :) You've definately been on a rollercoaster! Everything seems to of happened really fast for you!

Mel - Hiya! Lucky you for already having the visa! Sunshine Coast is absolutely gorgeous!! I much prefer it to the Gold Coast as I find the GC is alot more commercial. I get soooo home sick thinking about all these gorgeous places!!

Emma - I've been collecting evidence of our relationship since we first met, had loads of it, and then stupidly about a year ago I figured that we wouldn't need so much as we're married and we're bound to get a visa and I went on a shredding spree!! Now I can't find any documentation of my husband and I living together from 2002-2004! What have I done!! :ohmy: I bet you are looking forward to your wedding!!! It's nice that your parents are understanding about your move to Aus, we're yet to tell my husbands parents and I'm not looking forward to it. I mean they are great and will understand that we need to do what makes us happy, but I'm worried they will be a bit resentful towards me for taking thier son away :(


I've always worked in Customer Service, I've not got a career or anything and will be happy just earning money! I just can't wait to get back and be near my family! I will love my husband experiencing an Aussie Christmas and all!

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Kristy......i real would'nt worry too much about too much evidence........i dint send in any pictures, photos, tickets,..........all i sent in with my application was 'my love story' travel docs from our trip to Aus in August 2006, one letter that showed that we lived together in our current and previous house.
Other than that all we put in was proof of joint bank accounts and current mortgage statement. Claire x

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Great - there are loads of us already!

Emma - if I were you I would keep your flat on for a while and rent it out.....just to be sure that you have made the right move. I read too much on teh Moving BAck to the uk thread about people who go and then want to come back and cant get back on the property ladder. We plan to rent our house out for a couple of years to see how we like living in Aus full time and then fingers crossed we will be established over there and can make our minds up whether to keep on renting it out (covering the mortgage) or to sell up. I guess it means we will get a smaller place initially in Brisbane as we wont have any of the equity but to be fair there isnt much anyway as we only bought our place 2 years ago and it hasnt gone up much!

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Hi Claire,

I know I do worry :( I can't help it. We don't have any children so we haven't got that on our side. We have emails and phone bills from our time apart (it was about 5 months) do you think those will ne needed seen as it was only 5 months our of the whole 6 years? We've always rented and moved 5 times since I've been here so I figured I'd need evidence for each address? I'll be sending in pics in too. I don't want to send too much as I don't want DIMIA to be annoyed at having to go thru all the documents! I was going to send copies of cards to one another but I've decided against it as someone mentioned that they can't tell if you've gone to the supermarket bought a heap and written them out the day before :lol: So I've abandoned that idea! Seeee I am cutting back!! :rofl:

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If you'd feel better by sending in as much info as you can then its your application, and i always believe you must do what you think is right for yourself. If you are going to send photos then just send a couple, at the end of the day you've been married for 6 years!!!! How long was you together before that? C x

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Claire - whereabouts on the Gold Coast are you planning to go?

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Tallebudgera Valley, close to Burleigh Heads, to start off with anyhow as we will be staying with my moms cousin. House to stay in until xmas at the latest and a car to use also. How lucky are we? Very we think.......C X

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wow - that is lucky!

I am not sure where we will stay when we get there. My husband's family live in a 5 bedroom house but they have two kids themselves so we would struggle to all cram in there although they have already insisted that we would have to stay with them until we managed to find somewhere to rent. And from what I read on here it seems that there is lots of competition for rental properties - i.e. about 20 families all going round the same house and then all competing for it. Sounds like a bit of a nightmare to me! My other big worry is saving up and then seeing it all disappear with all the hidden costs and being worse off than we are here.......

Is anyone else shipping their furniture? WE arent bothering as its all so old and tatty!! I think it will just be clothes, CDs, photos and toys for the kids that we send so I am unsure of how long that will take. I have a spreadsheet of all the things we have to do before we go and also what we have to do when we get there - super organised!

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Hi y'all.

British born and married to an Aussie. We now live here in NSW since Easter last year.

Not one regret in coming here whatsoever.


:)

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iPom - do you plan to go back to visit the UK much? IT seems to be quite prohibitively expensive from the UK (just been reading the Cost of Flights thread) and I know its always so much more for my sis in law to get here than it is for us to go there.

People talk about buying a return from the UK and using it every year, but I'm not sure how feasible that is and anyway you would have to buy a flexible ticket which is pricy anyway!

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Heck no - once in a blue moon for me. Too expensive and really, I've got other places to be... :D

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Hi I am here on the fab GC on a spouse visa. Hubby was born here to 10 pound pom parents who then went back to the UK when he was 4. We moved out here November 2005 with our two girls 14 and really really nearly 12;) who also have dual nationality.

No intention of going back for a visit any time soon but presumably will at some point.

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Hi moneypen - you obviously like the lifestyle then? I depress myself reading the Moving back to teh uk forum.......I should stay away from it really.

Whereabouts on the GC are you?

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You shoud read it Rach... but recognise there's unhappy people who blame a lot on the place and not on the person.

You're a go getter, Rach, from your posts... I can't see you having too much of a prob moving tbh. :)

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We love it here. Very settled BUT we were very lucky in very quickly deciding which suburb to move to and then finding our house which, because of neglect, we got for a good price and now own an acre and a half of Gold Coast hill and trees.

You have to read MBttUK but not ever when you are having a 'what if/why' moment. Only go there when you are upbeat. It's good to see the other side of migrating, you won't change your views - who learns from others mistakes? but it does help to be aware that if it doesn't go well immediately, you are not alone.

We are down the bottom, just up from the NSW border. In the hills but five minutes drive to one of the best beaches on the GC:thumbsup:

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Awww you ladies are lovely - I guess the easier thing about having an Australian spouse is the ready made family out there. I also have a friend in Brisbane who emigrated with her Aussie husband 3 years ago and she absolutely loves it. She can get back to the UK easily though as she works for Emirates so gets nice cheap flights!

Plus there are so many people on here who seem to be going to the same area I am sure I will have lots of ready made friends! I go on another site called mumsnet in the uk and there are lots of ladies on the forums on there who live in Aus and a sudden surge in interest in people emigrating - wonder if thats got anything to do with the Wanted Down Under programme!!

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I sort of fall between the cracks on that one. Hubby knows as much about Aus as I do and the only family we have out here is his sister who is in Perth:lol:

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oh well - as long as you love it then who cares!? Have you had loads of visitors?

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Hi Claire, yeah I think I've read on here somewhere that you can't get a permanent position with QLD Govt until you are a PR, but there seems to be a fair few long-ish term temporary positions so maybe I could do for one of those?

Think spending days on the beach sounds like a much better idea though! :D

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Hi guys!

Yipee - other chicks with babes and we're all moving to Brisbane! I'm Aussie (been in UK for 4 years now) and married to my Yorkshire lad and now have a little English boy born 8 months ago. My dad is English so I have dual nationality anyway, which made moving to the UK relatively easy.

We've been planning to go for years now but seeing the little man is here and the bleak outlook of England, we're desperate to go home. Yeah, we're going through the 47SP visa and OH's had the medicals and police checks, we just now need to get the supporting evidence together and shoot it off with the application. It makes us feel great hearing that some people have had their visa's in their passports 2 weeks later.....god only hopes.

Once we do that, well all that's left is buying the flights and packing up here, which I'm dreading!! How the heck do you get rid of stuff and live your final few weeks on a minimum, with a little BABY!! Arrgghhhh.

I have my mum in Coffs Harbour (we got married there too in 2005) and a brother in Sydney but being originally from Sydney we just put our foot down - way way too expensive, Melbourne was too miserable and no beach, so the choice has been Bris Vegas. We're looking to go around the Manly/Wynnum area. Friends in Oz are already making the move out of Sydney to Brisbane so that's great and I have a cousin there already, so it's looking promising.

Mel - the Sunshine Coast - love it! And Mooloolaba Surf Club is the BEST. I went there on holiday years ago and that was my frequented spot. Love it. What a great place to bring up kids too.

Can't wait to see my little man become a little nipper.....nippers is the kiddies surf life saving that happens on the weekends. I had to do it as a kid and hated it but that's because I was a bit terrified of the surf - had some bad experiences. Love the beach though......

So yeah, I'm praying we get there before the end of 2007 but we'll see how we go. The job sucks here and OH is over his as well so COME ON!!!

Sasswa

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We'd love to live on the Sunshine Coast but think we'll have to be in Brissie for work so don't think it's really an option. Anyone know if it's possible to commute by train? I'm guessing it would be a fair old journey so don't really fancy it. Especially as we cycle to work in London at the moment and think it would be a shame to add commuting into our lives!

Think it's beautiful up there though - we spent some time all around the area a couple of years ago and then again recently when OH's sister got married there. I like the fact it's so different to the Gold Coast and it would be great to live nearer the nice beaches. But can't have it all!

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Hi Sasswa and welcome to our circle!! Sounds like the Womens Institute doesnt it!!??

Whereabouts in Yorkshire is your bloke from - I live in Harrogate in NOrth Yorkshire with my AUssie husband and three kids....but you will know all this if you have read the thread from the start!

I hope everyone likes a large glass of white from time to time.....so we can all meet up when we get there!

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Hi Rachel.....Believe it or not i dont like wine!!! Hope this doent mean i cant meet for a drink.........I have tried all different sorts but i just dont like it!!:(
Im more of a spirits girl.............C x;)

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I don't do wine either.......more of a Calpol kinda gal :eek:

....seriously tho...spirits...or snakebite...

:blink:

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I don't like wine either!! can I still be invited?? :D

I lost my internet connection and have only just been able to get online this afternoon! Nightmare! :frown:

Claire - I was replying to you yesterday when my connection went down. My husband and I have only been married since August 2004, We've been together for 6 years but only married for just over 2 of those. I think I will definately cut down on my 'evidence' as it seems loads of people have been granted a visa without the big pile I was planning on sending! Although I'll make sure I include things which I think may be necessary. Please feel free to give me advice though as I'm happy to receive it!! Anything thats going to help me out is welcome!

Rachel - You are super organised!! lol We're keeping some of our things in storage until we can afford to have them sent over. Not furniture though, going to leave that behind or sell it. Just boxes of things that I would like to keep but can't afford to take over with me.

ipom- Hiya! You live in the Blue Mountains now then? I visited there only once when I was about 10 and went on some steep train thingy and then across the mountains in one of ermm things lol I don't know what they're called but it takes you across high and past the sisters. Did any of that make sense? lol probabaly not! - Craazyyy Aussies! lol

Moneypen - Hello there! :) Are you liking the Goldcoast? I love visiting Dreamworld and Movieworld, we visited the Gold Coast last in 2003! My husband loves it!

Sasswa - Hiya!! I'm not a chick with a babe :( Would love to have one but have given up trying until we move now and then we're going to try again! Good Luck with your visa! My mums English so thats how I'm living in the UK at the moment, I'm on Right of Abode. Made things alot easier.

Emma - Hi there :) I think the communte by train would be too far?? Not 100% sure though I'm trying to go by memory (which isn't very good!!) I know from teh Northern suburbs the train system is good but not sure how far north! Would be lovely to live on the Sunshine Coast tho! In saying that I just want to live close to where my family is!

Anyway as for me, I'm at a stand still with my visa at the moment. We're moving house next week so have to wait until we've received a letter to our new address before can apply for the PCC (as have to give proof of address) Once we've applied for that we will then ring and book the medical. Also waiting on stat decs from family and friends.

Now that there are a few of us here, for stat decs from people in the UK did any of you have them write it on a special stat dec form or did the UK people just write a statement? If so was it witnessed?? (I know a couple of you have already answered this but just checking what everyone else has done)

Also one more thing, it says the copy of your marriage certificate has to be a proper copy and not the decorative one. I thought my marrige cert was the proper copy?? I'm confused about that. Didn't know there was a decorative one! lol

OMG this post is long. Sorry :o

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Mel - I forgot youuuuuu! Forgive me :D

How are you doing??

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Stat Decs......I only sent three in total.....one from my moms cousin in Aus as shes the only Australian I know......one was from an auntie here in the UK....and the final one was from our financial advisor, whos also a friend, and that was more to do with the fact that we had always done financial things together as a couple.
The only one that was done on the official stats form ( Form 888 i think) was the Aussie one this was also the only one that was witnessed too.

Marriage Certificate.....I only have one marriage certificate so that was the one that i sent a copy in of. Dont even remember reading about a decorative certificate:confused:

Hope this helps........C x

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:curse:

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Thats good to hear iPom, lets hope we all feel the same in twelve months!!! C x:D

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You not happy Mel???? C x

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lol...woz just a reply to kristy forgetting me!! I'm good..just wanna sell house and get to the SC!! Can't wait to meet everyone :)

Melx